Safety grapple



sept. 9, 1924. 1,507,706

A. MILLER ET AL SAFETY GRAPPLE Filed March 21. 1923 /A/ VEA/70H5 Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT ormoni. 'Ff

ANTHONY MILLER, OF BURLINGAME, .AND JOSEPH F. GIACOMAZZI, F SOLEDAD,"

CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY GRAPPLE.

Application filed March 21, 1923. Serial No. $26,556.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, ANTHONY MILLER and JOSEPH F. GmooMAzzr, citizens of the 'United States, residing at Burlingame, in '6 the county of San Mateo, State of California. and Soledad, in. the Acounty of Monterey, State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Grapples, of which the following is a specication. This invention relates to an improved safety grapple hook which is of simple and inexpensive construction and capable of being used in a number of ways for the purpose of supporting orhandling small boats from the decks of larger vessels and for the purpose of loadingand unloading vobjects and supporting various objects and the like.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a safety hook vof the character described which4 is particularly adapted for suspending. life boats from the decks of large vessels, the hook being constructed? so that the weight of the boat maintains the hookin closed position but upon relieving the hook of the weight of the boat, as for example, when the latter is launched, the hook auto- -matically flies open and releases the boat. Should in lowering the boat, a wave be encountered and the boatlifted, the hook will not release, due to the employment of spring means which when the supporting line for the hook is taut, will throw the weight of the boat on the spring means whereby the boat. is yieldingly supported. When the .boat is lifted by a wave the spring means expands without letting slack inthe line or relieving the hook of the weight of the boat. 'Bythis arrangement, assoon as the life boat ,is launched the hooks automatically release 40 and all possibility of the boat capsizing, due to the failure to release the launching lines as frequently takes place with the ordinary launching gear, is eliminated. 'A further object is to Aprovide a hook which although particularly designed for the purpose aforementioned may be equally wellem- `ployed as a grapple for general lifting, loading and unloading purposes, the construction of the hook being such that it may be very easily and quickly snapped into closed or hooked position and such that upon release of the weight of the object or material being handled, the hook will open and clear itself automatically from engagement with theoloject or material being handled.

jects in view, the invention consists in the Y novel construction andA combination of parts hereinafter described, illustrated inthe vaccompanying drawing,and set forthy in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, v,proportion, size and minordetailsof construction within the scope of the claims may be. re-

sorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of Ithe invention. y n Referring to the drawing: Fig. 1 represents aview of a' life boatjas suspended from davits on deck of a vessel showing the safety hook of our invention as it would be employed in this connection.v

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view `in elevationiof the hook showing part of the-device in section and also showing in dotted lines, the

hook as when open.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the hook asy when locked. i i i Fig. 4 is a View in elevation of a modified form ofthe invention.

In carrying o-ut the invention we provide Y like hook members l1 and 2, the bill portions Y 3 of which are adapted to overlap one an other and are recessed as-atrt'so thatfthey will closely interfit. These; hooks at Ithe upper ends of their shanks are mounted on a pivot pin 5. The-member 5 .secures the hook members to a U-shaped eye v6. v*The hooks are normally forced ,apartrrjsothat there is provided arelatively-wideV opening between the ends vof the lbills thereof, by

means of an expansion spring 7 mounted between'the hooks and nearlthe upperends of the shanks thereof, the ends of the springs being-attached in vany suitable manner to the hooks. A curved guide member 8 is se- Cured in anysutable manner @S at Sitothe 55 `Another object is to provide a hook ofthe shank of the hook 1, extends through the spring 7 and through an opening 1U provided in the hook 2, said member 8 being sufhciently long that it will not be withdrawn from the opening 10 when the hooks are spread apart. The shoulders 11 provided by the construction of the hooks at the pivoted ends thereof act as stops to limit the spreading movement of the hooks to the extent shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

As a means for locking the hook in closed position in such manner that when the lifting line or tackle to which the hook is attached is slack and the weight of the load to be supported by the hooks is relieved from the hooks., there is provided an extension 12 on the U-shaped eye 6 which extension carries a locking pin 12 adapted to extend into an opening 13 in the guide pin 8 when the eye 6 is inclined to 45 and is in the position shown in Fig. 3. Vhen the load is being supported other than by the hook, but the hook is gripping or attached to the load, and slack is premitted in the line to which the hook is attached, the locking pin 12 may be then inserted through the opening 13. l/Vhen slack in the line is taken up, the locking member 12 is Withdrawn from the opening 13 and the hooks are then free to be forced apart by the spring, except that the weight of the object supported by the hooks is brought to bear on the latter co-incident with the withdrawal of the member 12 from the opening 13.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the hook of our invention is adapted for supporting a life boat A, on davits B, ycarried by a vessel or ship C, said davit having the usual tackle D to which the hooks are connected. In this use of the hook, we preferably employ a spring device generally designated 15 which comprises a cylinder 16 having eyes 17 and 18 at its opposite ends. The eye 17 is connected with tackle D and the eye 18 is somewhat similar to a hook and inserted through the eye 6. Slidable in the cylinder 16 is a rod 19 having a head 20 on its upper end and which extends outwardly through the lower end of the cylinder, the hook 18 being carried on the lower end of said rod. A helical expansion spring 21 is mounted in the cylinder so that its lower end engages the pin 22 closingv the llower end of the cylinder and at its upper end is engagedby the head 20. The weight of the boat supported is placed on the spring device and the spring 2l compresses in such manner that the said boat is yieldingly supported. If the life boat in being launched encounters a wavek and is moved upwardly thereby as would ordinarily relieve the weight of the boat from the hooks, the springs expand and take up this movement so that there is a slight lost motion between the line of the tackle Dy and the hooks, thereby preventing the weight of the boat from being relieved and the spreading apart and releasing the boat.

As shown in Fig. the modified form of the hook comprises like hook members 25 which are crossed and pivoted as at 26 providing extensions 27. To these extensions links 28 are pivoted and the links are pivotedk to one another at their upper ends, there being an eye or other attaching member 29 on the pivot member. The bills of thehook overlap so that the weight of the object held by the hooks holds the hooks together. A spring 30 is mounted between the hooks on a curved pin 31, one end of which pin is 1 The other hooky fixed to one of the hooks. n has .an opening 32 therein through which the pin extends.

use, the weight of the object being handled holds the hooks together although thisv The spring tends to forcethe hooks apart. Vhen the device is in force is not entirely depended upon to hold v the hook in operative engagement with said object. When the line (not shown) to which the eye 29 isr taut, the links 2S `pull on the extensions 27 and hold the `hooks f' together, thus making possible the resting of the load with the weight on the hooks relieved without causing the hooks to open. To open the hooks, the line is slacked and the spring will then force the hooks apart. L

This form of our invention is double acting in that the hook is held closed by the twoforces described.` This `hook will be desirable in loading and unloading operations of all kinds in that it will providey for a reliable gripping and holding action and may be caused to automatically release.

lVe claim:

1. A safety hook comprising two hook members pivotally connected at their upper ends and arranged tol overlie one another at their opposite ends, spring means asso,- ciated with. the hooksy and tending to normally force the-m apart, an eye attached to the pivot ends of the hooks and providing g for connection of the hooks with a line and means for locking the hooks against spreading apart when the eye is moved to one side of a position assumed when ka pull on line is communicated tc the hook said weight of an object supported by the hooks is relieved therefrom, an eye loosely mounted on th-e pivot of the hooks, an extension on the eye, a curved rod fixed to one of the hooks, the other hook having an opening therein through which the rod slidably extends, and a locking member on the extension -movab1e into and out of locking engagement With said rod upon movement of said eye.

3. A safety' hook comprising a pair of hooks having their Shanks pivotally con-` nected and their bills adapted to overlie one another, a curved rod fixed to one of the hooks, the other hook having an opening therein through which the rod slidably eX- tenols, a spring mounted on the rod between said hooks and acting to force 'the hooks apart when the Weight 'of an o'bjeet Vsupported. by the hooks is relieved therefrom and an eye connected with the Shanks.

ANTHONY MILLER, v JOSEPH F. GIACOMAZZI. 

